Friday 27 / December / 2024
Ballia (Uttar Pradesh): Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Wednesday joined the war of acronyms in Uttar Pradesh, calling BJP 'Bharat Jalao Party', while attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his 'adopted son' of UP remark.
"Have you ever heard that an old man has been adopted by anyone," Prasad asked people at an election rally here, drawing peals of laughter.
"Are the people of UP childless that they would go for adoption, or is Modi an orphan?" he asked.
"BJP could be best defined as 'Bharat Jalaao Party' (Burn India Party). BJP is not a political party. This party had played no role in the country's freedom struggle and its leaders supported the British... ," he alleged.
The RJD chief exuded confidence about Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav "renewing his licence" in the assembly election and securing a fresh term for the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP).
Taking a dig at Modi for his statement during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls that he was in Varanasi as 'Ganga maiyya' had called him, Prasad, known for earthy humour, said, "Ganga maa calls a person during final rites."
He alleged that Modi was "hell-bent" on dividing the country and claimed his days in power were numbered.
The RJD chief also asserted that he was not only a neighbour, but also a relative of the people of UP as his daughter was married to SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav's grandnephew. He condemned the treatment meted out to Lady Shri Ram College student Gurmehar Kaur, noting that the 20-year-old girl was the daughter of an army martyr.
Campaigning for UP assembly elections will go down in the pages of electoral history for the offensive acronyms, including words like SCAM, being used freely to attack political opponents.
